Rain
by Skade
Summary: It is November, and the artic breeze is blowing the cold rain sideways. A woman, everything about her either in black or white save her lips painted ruby red, waits for someone... someone finally out of Azkaban. [Now FINISHED!]
1. Enter

_Rain_

-

It was raining.

Umbrella over her head, a thin, pale, blackhaired and black-eyed woman waited outside the Ministry of Magic. Everything about her seemed to be either black or white, save her lips painted ruby red. Her trenchcoat was wrapped tightly around her. Her name was Koda Snape.

While she stood there still like a statue, the raindrops falling and falling made a pattering sort of chorus for her amusement. Inside the Ministry building it was warm and dry, but she liked the cold and damp and especially the dark. If the world has taken precautions not to know you exist, the night is the safest time for you.

Koda waited.

It was November, and soon the puddles would start icing over, and the artic wind blew the rain nearly sideways. Koda closed her eyes, shivered, umbrella helping slightly in the gust. But she was waiting for someone, for someone she knew slightly. She was the only one who really cared that he was coming back from his ten-year sentence in Azkaban. She had a place for him to stay, food, water, even a little maternal love. That was why she waited, weathering the storm. She wondered whether the waves around Azkaban Island were churned to frothy white yet.

A figure walked out.

He had strawberry-blondish hair, and looked malnourished and anorexically thin. Shaking and shivering against the storm, his ragged robes and threadbare cloak didn't offer him much protection against the storm. His eyes were blue, but there was nothing but an empty ache and pain behind them - all the happiness taken from them. No, Koda thought, correcting herself, it looks as if his happiness was dragged out of him and violently murdered...

"Cei!" she called, above the wind.

He looked up, looked at her, paused warily. She rushed over to him, skipping across the puddles. "Cei! Cei, it's me, Koda - remember?" He stared into her eyes for a moment, then slowly nodded yes. "Come on," she said, gently taking his hand. "You can come with me. I have some food at home, and an extra bed... I think I have some of my dad's old robes, to get you out of those things - you're drenched..."

Cei nodded slowly, making Koda's voice trail off from her nervous babbling. The rain soaking him was running down his face, looking like tears. Koda bit her lip, the melencholy Cei was radiating blending into her own and making it hurt fiercely.

"Cei," she asked quietly, "Are you going to talk at all?"

He shrugged halfheartedly.

Koda looked up, positioning the umbrella to protect him from the rain as well. She dropped her voice to a whisper, leaning down close to his face as she held on to his small, bony wrist. "Cei... are you all right?"

He looked up, thinking for a second, and then shook his head no.

-

-

It was still raining.

Koda shuffled the deck of cards in her hands, turning them over. Cei was curled up on the sofa, watching the rain with an almost baleful expression in his eyes. Rest and food seemed to have gotten him into a better, calmer mood - still pitifully sad, but not quite as suicidal as before.

An upturned, beaten hat was on the floor next to the sofa. Aimlessly, Koda flipped a card over and tossed it into the hat. It fluttered down, catching Cei's attention, who watched with the same sort of curiosity like a small child or pet dog.

Koda began to talk, as if to make up for Cei's muteness. She flipped over a card, looking at it. "The King of Hearts," she chattered, almost to herself. "Do you know, Cei, that they call the king of Hearts the Suicidal King because of the dagger he holds?" Koda flipped the card upside down, looking at it. "Sometimes I feel that way," she tossed off casually the same way she tossed the card. Cei blinked, if agreeing, righting himself on the sofa.

After two spades, three clubs and a diamond were tossed, Koda looked up. Cei, always the perfectionist, was building a house of cards, enthralled by his work.

She smiled, slightly saddened yet happy. It was something for him to do, at least, other than sleep. The scene made her sigh, however. Cei, like his father, had once been brilliant, but Azkaban had taken that all away...

Koda looked up - everything outside was shades of grey. As she tossed a Seven of Spades over, she mused on how appropriate the appearance of the day was.

-

-

It had been raining over a week.

Koda had no idea why she wanted to go out, she just did. In the rain-repellant robes over her muggle clothing, she would be dry enough for a quick fly - it was far too soggy to walk.

But...

She was pausing at the door.

She looked at him. He still said nothing, despite her efforts to get him to speak the last few days. There was an intelligence still there, yes, he was still sane. Well, mostly. He just would not speak to her, or to anyone for that matter. It had jarred her, caught her off guard. First she had treated him as if he was a child, but after a day or two, once he finally had his wits back, he asked to be treated as a peer. That was why she knew now that he had a beautiful hand, elegant and swishing. Like his father's.

But now, he was asleep - curled up in the extra bed, trying to recapture the strength that had been taken from him in Azkaban. She commanded herself to be quiet, even catching herself holding her breath without meaning to. In the moody lighting, everything about him was accented - the scar on his cheek, the pure thinness of his body. Koda had to look hard sometimes, making sure he was still breathing.

Carefully, she tiptoed her way out.

The rain splashed against her robes, but with the hood up and spells in place she was dry. Mounting her broom, she went slow, looking at the puddles reflecting her own muddied image as she glided above them. It was a little escape, into the countryside.

Koda looked at the train tracks. They were for the Hogwarts Express. She had always thought it ironic that here they were, Cei Dumbledore and Koda Snape, the two people not wanting to go to Hogwarts the most, right by the route. Well, soon enough the train returning for Christmas holidays would be coming through. She wondered if she should make a point of waving.

The rain subsided to a drizzle, and the faint warm glow of sunlight through clouds decended. Koda looked up, glad for some bright natural light at last. She had missed the sun...

She sighed a little, and looked back down to her path - and immediately braked.

About ten paces away was a dog. Wet, smelly, large, and black with pale eyes, it looked up at her.

Koda blinked. Something jogged in her memory.

She remembered who the dog was.

However, a little voice inside of her told her to just play dumb. She listened to it, and took its advice. Reaching down, she petted the dog, talking to it softly, beconing it to come home with her. It seemed more than eager to, in fact.

Koda decided that she would actually like to have a pet around.

It was a full two hours before Koda and the dog were back home, and sitting by the fire, clean. Seeing no better opportunity to vent, Koda began to babble aimlessly to the dog.

"Do you see, in there, the boy sleeping - ? That's Cei. Cei Dumbledore. He's had a hard time... just coming out of Azkaban, and all. D'you know I was the only one who came to see him, give him some help. His own father too wrapped up in his job and too scared to cross over th' taboo line the Ministry set down. Imagine the field day the Prophet'd have if his father made any move to help him." Koda rolled back, feeling that it was good to talk. "I guess it's good I was here then. I mean, I already knew him..."

Out of things to say, Koda let her voice trail off, and looked back down at the dog. She made herself forget his former entity, she made herself forget what Sirius Black was, she made herself, simply, forget. It was a talent, something she was good at. She spoke to the dog, smiling vaugely, patting it behind the ears.

"You're Richmond," she whispered almost to herself as she dubbed him another name, and made herself forget Sirius Black.

-

-

**_Author's Notes: _**_'allo, 'allo, 'allo, everyone. Yes, I'm back on fanfic.net, and you can thank a certain friend on Neopets for coaxing me back onto the site after my long, long absence. As usual, I don't own anything. Well, perhaps vaugely the twistings of Cei and Koda, but it's mostly JK Rowling's. Ah well._

_Wierd fic, I'm warning you. It's darned interesting and fun to write tho'._

-=Skade= 


	2. Peace Begun and Broken

**_Rain_**

_Peace Begun and Broken_

--

The world outside was a grey drizzle, but inside the little cabin there was a warmth and happiness that Koda had known very little of. Richmond laid by the fire, gently dozing. Cei sketched, streched out on the sofa. Koda leaned against the doorframe, in limbo between kitchen and den, and smiled to herself.

A peace was there... it had settled into the crevices behind the furniture, into the holes of the knit throw, into the pores of her skin, and it was a new feeling. Yes, the old house had seen this sort of calm before, but the lonliness dragged it down. Now the peace was light and airy, supported by the warm glow of man and dog...

She drifted into the kitchen. Something had compelled her to make gingerbread, and as the sweet treat began to cook, slowly the spice saturated the air. Koda had always loved gingerbread, but she neglected to cook it often... too much of her mother lingered in the memories of fixing it, down to the recipie written on yellowed paper in her mother's hand. She sighed, and padded slowly off to her room.

Now was a good time to practice.

The cordial little fiddle was in its dignified black case, leaning against the wall. She sat down on her bed and lifted the case up to her lap, revering in the fiddle's beautiful craftsmanship as she lifted it out. Even after all these years she was still in awe of the instrument she played. The fiddle was one of the few things she considered truly hers in the house, not a Snape tradition, like the old cottage or the gingerbread...

Koda brushed the strings experamentally with the bow, tuning her fiddle gently. She remembered that the violin was one of the few choices her father approved of... and how he thought her switch to the lighthearted jigs and reels of the fiddle was such a betrayal. The fiddle was independance and hope and freedom all in a shiny black leather case.

As she softly played a slow, happy tune, full of Celtic frills, a wave of happiness made her smile. The beautiful peace completed that afternoon, so fragile and pretty, wonderful and easily broken.

With the intuition granted to every woman bearing the Snape name, Koda knew it would not last.

--

Her feeling of foreboding grew with the descent of night, and peaked when, like a nervous mother hen, she fretted over Richmond's nightly absence. Even after a few weeks of ownership they knew the dog was set in his ways, but something felt wrong to her, and made her walk outside.

The moon was shining on the wet grass and the rain had reduced to a fine, misty fall. She looked around. "Richmond?" Her worried call echoed slightly into the woods behind the house. "Richmond?" she called again. No answer placated her worries, no bark or howl came forth to ease her worry.

The dog's pawprints in the mud, filled with water, shined in the moon's glow. There wasn't any choice to her. Koda followed, on intuition, or gullability, whatever you may call it, it drove her forwards. Like a solid Roman-built road, the pawprints led her on. Her heart was already in her throat when she stepped farther into the forest. A small sound, like the scratching of a quill, wound its way to her... she reached down, grabbed a branch, and swept it back -

Then it happened.

He looked up - a man - black hair - black - _Black_ - she knew him, she knew him, she had seen his face on the wanted ads, he was a murderer, a killer, a killer - she let him into her house - she showed him hospitality - she didn't know - she _did_ know - _no!_

He reached up, trying to catch her arm as she moved back, to get away, to get away from him. "Koda - please - I - I can explain, if - "

She exploded, yelling at him. "_Get **away**__from me, _you _murderer!_" The night's silence so disturbed, birds took flight, she wanted to take flight - she wrenched her hand from his grip, bristling like a cat. He approached her, apologetic - stuttering in surprise - she didn't listen, she didn't want to. He was a murderer. A liar. A cheat. Father told her so, Father _knew_...

She tore away, through the forest - he followed. Koda tripped out into the open yard over some nettles, her leg stinging, the world swirling. No. No. It couldn't be possible, couldn't be right. She sobbed, she turned, tears hot, voice breaking. "All - all I wanted was to be _normal_ - to be happy - couldn't you let us be happy? Why? Why couldn't you?"

"Koda, please, calm down. I can explain this, I promise. It's not my fault -"

"Not your fault? Not yours? Then whos fault is it? Is it me? Are you getting back at my father through me? Are you? Or do you just like ruining people's lives?" she accused angrily, her voice raising as she looked at him, vision blurred by tears.

Desperate, he cringed, trying to placate and soothe her. "Koda, please - I wouldn't do that, you know I -"

He stopped talking. A figure had appeared at the doorway, still and quiet to the point of being soundless. It was Cei. His eyes spoke volumes, brimming with tears, looking dangerously wounded. He looked at them both. Then, like a deer spooked by hunters, he ran - into the house - away from them - away from the conflict.

Koda screamed and whirled. "_Do you see now? Do you see what you've done?_" She turned with a sob, fleeing into the house.

"Koda, wait!" Sirius called, but it was too late. He looked at the ground, downcast, shaking his head.

At least there was time to finish his letter to Harry now.

---

Koda stumbled out the front door, sobbing quietly as she looked around for where Cei had gone. The train tracks to Hogwarts streched in the same clearing the house was built in, trailing off past her and deeper into the forest. A few blades of grass marked the way that Koda needed to take.

She miserably shuffled along, wiping her eyes on her jacket sleeve. Her leg throbbed where the nettles scrached it, and more importantly, she ached at such a sudden and swift betrayal. There had to be a way to salvage the situation, to make it all right... she didn't worry about herself anymore as she walked through the forest. At the very thought of Cei she became anxious.

The sounds of a small creek added a calming, welcome ambience. Sniffling, she called out. "Cei?" A few more meters of underbrush and she saw him, hugging his knees, pitifully curled up on the small stream's bank. Worried frown crossing her face, she slumped down beside him. He was shivering, perhaps from cold, perhaps from something else - he looked up at her as she sat, eyes red and face tearstained. Carefully, she looped an arm over his shoulders. "Cei?" she queried in a whisper. "Are you all right?"

He just sort of shivered, curling up closer to her. Suddenly, something caught his eye, and with an equally worried look, he looked up at her and gestured to her leg.

Koda looked down with a blink, noticing that her calf where the nettles had hit was bleeding, a bleeding gash streching down from her knee. "Oh," she said limply, blinking more rapidly. "No... I - I think I'm fine for now, Cei."

He still nailed her with a worried stare. The rain picked up again, suddenly rushing from mist to drizzle to a good downpour. "Come on," she said worriedly, helping Cei up, "We'd better get inside..." He nodded sagely, but still held onto her gently, helping her to take some weight off of her leg.

Slowly they walked back to the house, hoping that life could continue smoothly after the night of betrayal.

--

**Hayley (Rouge Magie) - **_This is for you. A nice, shiny, new chapter of Rain. Aren't you proud of me._

**_Disclaimer - _**The usual applies. It's J.K.'s, not mine, yada yada, don't sue me please, I haven't got all that much money, and I think I could only hire my sister as a lawyer, and I don't think she wants to be a lawyer. So there. 


	3. Muse of Tragedy

**_Rain_**

_Muse of Tragedy_

---

The hazy light of sun through rain streamed fitfully into the living room the next morning. No trace of Sirius Black remained, but Koda's mind, hazy from lack of sleep, kept imagning him around, like a ghost.

They made it back to the house around midnight. Tired beyond words, Koda slumped into the sofa, and in a few minutes the warm, comforting weight of Cei leaning on her lulled her into sleep. Now his presence next to her was gone, but as the pallid sunlight warmed her cheek, she couldn't stir herself to wake. A gentle warmth washed over the gash on her calf, easing the pain into nonexistance. Finally, she pulled herself into conciousness, opening her eyes.

Cei was crouched on the floor, dutifully washing her wounded leg. A small bowl of water was on the floor near to him, a few puffs of steam coming off of its surface. He hadn't quite realized that she had woken up, still bathing the gash with utmost care. Koda roused herself further, and silently leaned down to catch him in a hug. He flinched slightly, startled, then relaxed, looking up into her face with almost childlike deep concern as she pulled back.

"I'm fine," she whispered to him gently. "Really. But thank you."

He looked down, as if a bit ashamed, but she brought his gaze back up with a gentle kiss on the cheek. And for the first time in what seemed like a century but was really only a night, he smiled.

--

Christmas was sneaking up on them, but the weather remained persistantly warm enough for rain instead of snow. Everyone came to the general consensus that it was going to be a gray and soggy Christmas, but made the best of it anyway.

Koda looked at the calendar, plotting. She smiled to herself. It was the twentieth, the day she had planned something ahead. It was time to go out and do something that would make her feel better, as is hardwired into every female mind: shop.

As Cei streightened the collar of the heather-gray robe he was wearing, he smiled. In fact, the two seemed to be plotting presents for each other already.

It was a quick trip there by Floo Powder that soon became a merry occupation for the morning. As Koda guarded secret presents from Cei, he tried in vain to bounce up and down and peek, but often as they were checking out he would place a hand in front of Koda's eyes and slip something into the pile that they were buying. Being at wizard shops, a quick spell to wrap whatever you were buying and send it home by owl was a mere few knuts extra, and well worth it, since neither of the pair wanted to be stuck carrying a mass quantity of parcels. As entertaining as tag or any sort of game, they went from shop to shop, each looking forward to the apparently huge pile of presents that awaited them in a few days.

However, their merriment was oblivious to one other thing happening in Diagon Alley. In support of the new war, and called for by the people, Albus Dumbledore was delivering a solemn yuletide speech in one of the Alley's many grand squares. If Koda had known, she wouldn't have come, and if Cei had known, he would have spent the day in some tiny nook of the house, shivering as old demons haunted him. Yet they were there. Whether it was luck or ill fortune, some roll of the dice ment that something great would happen...

And happen it did.

It started just as they walked out of another store. Koda was laughing and Cei smiling, his blue eyes sparkling. Koda was revering in the fact that life seemed to have come back to him in full as he looked up. The sparkle died, and a shadow seemed to pass through his expression as he seemed horrified at something. At what? He was staring at the rooftops, Koda knew. What was there to frighten him?

And then he tore through the crowd, pushing people aside with reckless abandon. Koda ran after him, calling his name, yelling at him to come back. He seemed oblivious, as if some thought consumed his mind - no time for her, or for apologies as those shoved aside yelled and cursed, waving fists. They ran, Koda following him blindly, terrified.

Then it _happened_.

Koda looked up, and Koda _saw_. There was a figure, dressed in black, a magic crossbow lifted to his shoulder. The poisoned arrow was pointing down, pointing at a stage - a podium - a man, a man who she knew. Cei's father. And Cei ran twards him, his face full of voiceless panic, and then -

The arrow flew.

The arrow hit.

Cei sunk to the ground with a gasp, the shaft embedded in his chest.

The crowd screamed and gasped all at once, taking a step back. The token few who sat onstage stood up, horrified. Koda screamed, pushing forward, clawing her way through until she reached Cei's limp, prostrate form. Turning his head to face her, she began to sob, calling his name over and over again. His blue eyes fluttered halfway open, and as the world swirled and blurred about them, he took a deep pained gasp, reaching up shakily to catch her hand.

"Koda..." It was the barest whisper that escaped his lips, voice raspy from not being used for so very long. "Koda... I love you... and please tell Father... I still love him too..."

And then with another gasp of pain, his grip on her arm went loose, the blue eyes closed. Koda pulled away, standing, as the others rushed and swirled about her. Behind her the assassin turned and stood on the rooftop, somewhat triumphant, and the crowd turned to mob as they screamed "Get him, get him!". Koda retreated back with them, for Cei was surrounded by others now... doctors, people who knew what they were doing - and a grief-stricken father.

Koda found herself again running, because it felt good to run, and the crowd parted for her smoothly, unlike the last time. They chased the assassin, matching his strides on the rooftops with footfalls on the ground. And she was there again, on the crest of the people, with burly athletes red-faced and clutching wands, like mythical Atlanta in some great hunt.

The black-clad figure darted out from a building, and curses and jinxes from around him rendered him unable to move quickly. As the mob rushed in and about the unlucky assassin, the door of the small building hung open. Koda turned, she looked, she stepped in, and she screamed.

Another figure, one she knew much better, was slumped against a wall, bound and gagged with another arrow through his shoulder, pinned to the wall. Someone had not wanted him to talk, and succeeded quite well. Blood turned the black robes he wore into a deeper, morbid shade, and his face, already pale, was white with blood loss.

Koda let out one more shuddering cry before beginning to sob in earnest. The crowd came about her, milling forward, and kind arms took her by the shoulder to lead her away as she screamed wrechedly, "No... _No! Father! **Father!**_"

She looked up, sobbing and slumping into a stranger's arms as a small crowd of kindness guided her past and out of the way. Years later she would still swear that she saw a Roman figure scrawling into a wax tablet - the morbid, angst-ridden figure of the Muse of Tragedy.

---

A/N:_ You should be really happy with me now, Hayley. I think I'll be able to distract people demanding other 'fics out of the way momentarily if I keep on writing Rain.... nice good juicy chapter, yes?_

_Usual disclaimer applies... good grief... You all know the drill. { Insert witty and legal disclaimer here }_


	4. May you live...

Harry didn't know quite what to think.

It had been such a lovely day. All the students staying over Christmas had been invited to Dumbledore's speech, and since they were few in number, they all accepted. In fact, McGonagall even granted shopping privleges, provided they stayed with the group of Hufflepuffs that were also going along. The Hufflepuffs were merry company, eagerly shaking Harry's hand, and dishing out compliments to Ron and Hermione in turn. Their shopping was done quite quickly, and the other students soon became co-conspirators to a few surprise presents.

All were happy as they trundled back to pick out seats for the speech, and Harry was quite enjoying what Dumbledore was saying and then...

and then...

_That_ happened.

Now Harry, Hermione and Ron were sitting speechless aboard a car of the Hogwarts Express. It was far too risky to even think of apparating two injured people, and even riskier to use floo powder. They sat in numb silence, and occasionally a doctor would come rushing from one end of the train to the other, but other than that, there was no noise save for the rain outside. It had turned bitter cold, and the rain was freezing into small hail, hitting the train with tinny beats.

Harry gulped. He tried not to think of Cei - because that was the man's name, he had wheedled that out of McGonagall as she rushed through. He tried not to think of Cei, so close to death - perhaps even now dead. Hermione had grimly explained a few moments earlier that wizards had ways of keeping a person alive for long periods of time, much like muggle life support, but it took work - and a skilled wizard. Harry had no doubt that Dumbledore would take such drastic measures for his son. Harry gulped again, with a little shudder. His _son..._

As another doctor stormed past, Harry heard the thin sobbing coming from just one car up. Snape - Harry had nearly forgotten about him. Indeed, Harry thought wryly that his remorse over the potions master's injuries was a little much, but it wasn't true concern for the teacher, but for whoever was sobbing in the next car. Harry was sure that he caught the name _Snape_ once or twice in conversation around her, and he wondered...

The doctor tromped by where they were sitting, and Harry raised his head and voice. "Excuse me, sir?"

The medic turned, looking frazzled. "Yes?" he said wearily, reaching up to comb his fingers through his hair.

"Uhm - who - who's the woman in the next car up?" Harry queried, a bit meekly.

The doctor sighed, and shook his head. "She... she's, ah, Koda Snape, I believe. Some relation to your Potions teacher, I think... daughter, if I'm remembering correctly."

"Oh," Harry muttered, "Thank you." The doctor gave a swift nod before striding hurriedly on his way. Harry turned back, biting his lip as he pondered. The fierce, hail-ridden gale caught the door from car-to-car, blowing it open with a noisy shriek of the wind. Harry jerked his head up again, halfway up from his seat, hearing the sobs from the other side of the door come to a wreched stop. As he turned, getting up to close it, he saw another figure - a woman, with very short black hair, staggering up miserably. As he rushed over, and she did the same, they stopped for a split second -

Face to face, they looked at each other. Harry noted that the woman didn't look all that bad, quite nice, in fact; but she wasn't gorgeous, more beautiful in a plainer, more honest sense of the word. She stared at him in mild shock for a few moments, her eyes red from her weeping, before she reached for the door.

It was something he did on impulse - Harry reached out to her through the door, catching her hand, getting a bit wet in the weather between the cars. "Come on, you look lonely. Sit with us?"

She looked even more surprised, but nodded with a weak smile and stepped in after him. Together they wrestled the door closed, and Harry glanced her over, finally getting a better look at her face. Feeling more than a little pity for her as she hurriedly tried to wipe away a few stray tears with her wet coat sleeve, Harry guided her over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting, and made the proper introductions. "I'm Harry Potter - although you probably already knew that - and these are my friends -"

"Ron Weasley," Ron said as brightly as circumstances allowed, holding out a hand for a shake.

"...And I'm Hermione Granger." The woman nodded with a small smile, shaking their hands in turn. "And you?" Ron said gravely.

"Oh!" She muttered. "Well - yes - sorry. I'm Koda - Koda Snape. Pleased to meet you all." Her voice was very soft, and very hoarse. Ron and Hermione's eyes widened in mild surprise when she introduced herself, but Harry looked at her impassively, having a sneaking suspicion of such from the start.

She sat slowly next to them, at the other edge of the seat, and began to nervously wring her hands once more. She looked very close to tears once more, and begain to speak again after clearing her throat. "I, ah, I should probably apologize... I'm assuming you've had to deal with father, and -"

The screech of the train halting interrupted her meek confession, nearly throwing them out of their seat. Flustered, she got up, as did Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The doors opened, and before anyone could say anything more, she had gone, dissapearing into the worried crowd as the two injured victims were carefully lifted out and carried to the safety of Hogwarts.

For a moment Harry paused at the door. The three friends silently milled over what had happened in their minds. Hermione drew a deep breath through her teeth, and said gloomily:

"Well. Today was interesting...."

----

Koda had called it the fortune-cookie curse.

"May you live in interesting times." It certaintly seemed to apply to her now. Too interesting...

The crowd pushed her back, away from where she wanted to be - by her father's side, by Cei's, too. It was a conflict of intrest, but she felt so numb inside that it didn't seem real - this didn't seem real. She'd wake up and Cei would be by her side perfectly fine and Father would still be at Hogwarts scaring the hell out of any students he teached and everything would be normal. Yes. Normal.

Wake up, Koda. _Wake up!_

But she didn't wake up, and now, and now - Koda had a problem. But at least she had gotten away from _his_ gaze. _Him_. The Boy who Lived. Potter. He had that all-knowing look in his eyes, as if he knew exactly what was going on, and that scared her, because she didn't like for anyone besides her to know all of her life. It was a conspiracy of one. No room for him.

Koda knew that someone was talking to her, and Koda knew that she was being ushered along like a child, but she couldn't bring herself out of her thoughts to really listen or do anything. She mm-hmmmed in the right places, and looked up just enough to see that she was in Hogwarts, up one of the many lofty towers, into the lavish guestrooms. It was McGonagall who lead her, that much she knew, but little else.

Finally the door closed. The world became small again, manageable. She was alone. Alone in her conspiracy of one.

Then she finally sunk onto the bed, her body shaking with heavy sobs. The world became blacker and blacker as she sobbed herself into an uneasy sleep.

----

_A/N: Not much to say... Cei isn't dead. YET. Whether he lives or dies will keep you tuned in until next time, yess? Same bat time, same bat channel. _

_Hayley: I hope this makes you happy. LOL ^_^_

_{Insert your own witty and legal disclaimer here}_


	5. Memories

Rain

C_hapter Five_

M_emories_

It was the day after when Harry found her, sitting in an abandoned room. The room was full of windows, in fact, it seemed almost to be nothing but. It was bare and empty - so Koda sat on the floor, watching the rain. It was true rain, once again, no longer hail, but bitter cold. The birds were singing anyway, and the sound of that was there as well...

It was then she started talking.

Harry forgot exactly what happened before. He remembered sitting down beside her, wanting to bring her some comfort, because, for all his faults, Harry Potter _was_ a good person, and even if Koda was the daughter of the one teacher at Hogwarts who seemed to be after his blood... She was still miserable. She was still human. And she still needed cheering up.

_They_ didn't talk, really. Koda talked, Harry listened. His intuition told him that she just needed someone to listen to her for a bit, nobody really in perticular - just someone.

Harry didn't remember how they got on the topic of family, but he did remember what she said.

She looked down, sighed. "Oh, Harry. You would've loved Father if you'd met him before Mother died... I didn't see much of him before I was about seven years old - before - well - _you_ happened, I suppose... I remember being so terrified during the trial, but then so relieved when they finally let him go... He came home to a hero's welcome, at least from us, because we both knew exactly what he was doing - Mother was the one who made him, after all, she vowed that he had to start giving information to Dumbledore before she would even go out on a date with him... My mother, she fretted over him so much - after he was gone all that time... They kept him in Azkaban for a good solid three months, in the worst cell they could find, so his health was pretty awful when he came home, but he didn't seem to mind - he was so happy to see us again. He got enough work after that, working at home on some sort of potions research - some potion to counter lycanthropy, I think it was. It was strange - we wouldn't see him for most of a day, or he'd come down in a bad mood and pace for awhile, then he'd work - the entire night - and the next morning, he'd be in the best mood, he'd rush downstairs and kiss Mother and swing me around, laughing all the while. It was funny, in a wonderful sort of way."

"But then, you know... It's the Snape curse, I call it. All good things come to an end. I was thirteen (you would've been six - funny, isn't it? My birthday's in the summer, too). Mother had insisted on my having a private tutor instead of going to Hogwarts - I think it's because she knew I'd be in, oh, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff house, not Slytherin - Father would've disowned me on the spot. You know how he is... Mother got him to behave most the time, but there are some things you just can't change. I remember, it was August, and Mother had gone out to get something from a few shops, then stop and have tea with her lady friends. Father got worried after awhile, but he just dismissed it as his worrying, because he had been reading _The Daily Prophet_ about some new Death-eater activity... he was worried they might come after him, or us. Well... he... he was right, Harry.

"The next thing I remember is worrying about dinner, because it was five, and Mother had left just after lunch, and she needed to be there, starting supper. There was a knock at the door, Father ran to get it, thinking it was Mother. It wasn't - it was an Aurorer, one of the policeman-types from the Ministry. Father almost always got a glaring from them, they always held things against him even with Dumbledore's vouch for him... But this one didn't... He just asked Father to step outside a moment, come see something. I followed after, I was so nosy then, and I was curious - that bad sort of curiosity, the sort of kind that turns your stomach to ice."

"I heard the Aurorer explain to Father that they had found something at the base of the path to our house - we lived out in the country, so the base of the path was about a mile and a half away. I heard him say that he knew Father was in the house all day, and I heard him explain about the Dark Mark, and the footprints, and the pile of ashes... the pile of ashes that...

"And I heard him say that all they found in the ashes was a locket, one gold locket. He handed it to Father, and then... Well... Have you ever just _known_ something? That's when... when I _knew_. Even before Father asked shakily if there was any chance she'd be alive. Even before he shook his head no with a deep and solemn frown..."

"And Father... sort of went to pieces."

"Both of us broke down sobbing at the news. I didn't believe it. It's... horrible, knowing you'll never see someone again. I just sat in the den, staring at Mother's picture she painted on the wall, crying, hugging the teddy bear I'd had all my life like I was five instead of thirteen, but I didn't care. Father... took the news worse. He... managed to make his way up the stairs, and locked himself in his workroom."

"And... the next thing I remember was smelling something strange... this bitter sort of smell, it... and it was coming from Father's workroom..."

"When I went up, he wouldn't answer, even when I banged on the door.... And... A few Aurorers were staying around, you know, looking for any evidence, making sure they - the few Death-eaters - didn't come back to go after Father or me... One of them heard me screaming and trying to get Father to answer me, and... he came... knocked down the door..."

"Father was there - just - just lying there, sprawled out on the floor. And... I don't remember very much... They rushed him off to Saint Mungo's, me, too, because I didn't have any relatives who could come look after me - just a few of the men from the Ministry who were nice to me, out of sympathy, I guess. Besides, even if my Aunt Myra could've come, it would've been a few days - she did some work in Kenya. Still does, too... But..."

"It was four days before the doctors could finally get my father to snap out of it... He had tried to kill himself, Harry. And you know how he is with potions - he did it right properly, too, that's why it took four days, and it was nearly a week before they actually let me see him. And... it was the most terrifying thing in the world. He was my father, but... when I spoke with him, when we talked, it was like... I didn't know him at all. Thirteen years, just.... gone."

"That's when we had our first real fight. Not any fists - just a screaming match. The nurses said they could hear us clear into the next floor. Finally I just stormed out - ran away from home, from him. I stayed with a few friends... older friends... I play fiddle, so I was part of a band - celtic, folk music, mostly. Annoyed Father with his classical tastes so bad... He didn't bother to mail anything, even when he got out of the hospital. I got wind of the fact that he was teaching here by the gossip chain. ...Finally, about five years ago, he sent me a letter, apologising, sending some money and a key to our old summer home along the tracks of the Hogwarts Express. We made up... well... sort of. As best you can over mail, anyhow. I lived in the old house. And..."

"I remembered Cei from an old meeting - You-Know-Who made Father hold one meeting at our house, out of loyalty, or so he said. Mother lamented on her dirty carpets for months afterward - but - that meeting was when there was the first rumor that he was slipping into the Dark Arts. I actually met him when I was seven.... He was a cell away from Father - younger than you are now - just sobbing. I remember I stopped and tried to comfort him as best I could, because he was so young, but a Dementor chased me away before he could really do anything... I just remember his blue eyes, and that haunting stare, and his name..."

And Harry listened.

He listened to when Koda first fetched Cei away, gave him a home. He listened through their trials. He listened to Koda's meeting with his godfather - and did stop to reassure her that Sirius was a good man, at that, she seemed to relax. He listened through Diagon Alley, and the run through the crowd. He listened to the sound of the assassin's arrow, and... there she stopped.

"It's all right. I know what happens." She was on the verge of tears, so Harry stopped her there. He clumsily stood. "Er... Miss Koda, if-if I can get you anything -"

"No, no. I'm okay." Her voice was a whisper, so delicately broken that Harry found the lump in his throat growing. "And please, Harry. Just call me Koda. It's all right."

They looked at each other for a moment, and then Harry left. Koda... maybe she was still miserable. But she seemed to take comfort in the fact that someone there was her friend. 


	6. Gingerbread and One Step Closer

**Rain**

**C**hapter Six

**_G_**_ingerbread and One Step Closer_

"Harry, where _were_ you?"

Hermione's voice snapped at him, sharp and quick like a whip. He was barely listening to her, even having the gall to hum as she chided him.

"I can't _believe_ you skipped Transfiguration tutorial! Professor McGonagall was _expecting_ us there, after all the pestering you and Ron have done about animagi classes, Harry!" She glared down at him. "_Well?_ Don't you have _anything _to say for yourself?!" Her voice was sqeaky from anger.

There was a moment of silence when all they could hear was the gentle, maddening rythm of the rain slapping the stone roof of Hogwarts many, many meters above.

"I was... helping a friend," Harry said at length, after he had mulled his answer over in his mind.

Hermione gawked and sputtered, Ron raised an eyebrow and (im)politely inquired if he had gone mad.

Harry smiled braudly and walked past, deciding to skip Divinations practice, too, as he heard the slamming of a door a few stories up...

The Snape curse was in effect once more.

Some things never would change! Koda thought bitterly as she bit her bottom lip, refusing to give in to tears. He had been so nice to her, the _first_ few hours he was able to see her... Her father battered and bruised, she had been happy to give him sympathy and hugs. But then, of course, all good things must come to an end.

A screaming match three hours and fourty-nine minutes in. It was a record for them, probably... Father's screams still rung in her ears: _You _are_ my daughter and you _will_ do what I say!_

My. For an invalid who was forced to limp around with the aid of a cane for the next few weeks, he certaintly could yell as well, or better, than he used to. They kept their backs to one another as they stamped their seperate ways - Koda, up to her guest room, Severus, down to his rooms in the dungeons. By the scowls on their faces it was easy to read what had happened.

Harry looked up and sighed. And he had hoped at least _one_ fragment of a family would come out happy in the end...

Both Snapes went to sulk - to say the least.

The cycle of guilt went as thus: They would have a screaming match, part, sulk induvidually, each have a guilt trip and decide that they needed to apologize to the other but, unfortunately, Koda was as prideful as her father... An apology was not going to happen soon.

Unless...

Koda was staring off into the rain, half-dozing, half-remembering. Ginger. _Some_one had perfumed her room with ginger. Bloody stupid house elves... But... _Ginger_... Gingerbread. Her mother.

She closed her eyes.

Gingerbread. She remembered - every time her mother made it, the sweetbread would lure her father downstairs by the very smell. He would be waiting as soon as it came out, mischief glinting in his eyes, his work abandoned carelessly upstairs. Mother would pretend not to notice him, Koda would, and he would shush her, abiet with a wink. As soon as Mother left the gingerbread unguarded, however, it began floating in midair twards where Father was hiding...

As soon as he caught it, the chase was on. With a childish whoop, Father scrambled to get out of the way as Mother, laughing, grabbed a rolling pin, and little Koda trailed behind, hindering more than helping. Somehow, he managed to run along holding a hot tray of gingerbread while persued by a mildly angered wife and a shreiking daughter... How he managed this, Koda still hadn't figured out. He would always elude them, managing to make his way up to his workroom - and then - SLAM! Both he and the gingerbread would be gone, lost behind a locked door, and Koda and Mother would groan as they listened to his happy munching.

Mother always scurried off to tend to their bruised egos, and to start collecting ingredients for another batch of gingerbread. However, Koda always managed to beg a story out of her, and while they were reading about Tigger and Pooh, Father would - _very quietly_, because he was _good_ at being quiet - sneak down the stairs, gingerbread in hand, and set it just outside the door of the living room. It would be still warm, still fragrant, still delicious, but always - always! - with exactly one square missing.

And later, they would act as if nothing had ever happened. Although, Father would refuse a second piece at dinner...

Falling out of her daydream, Koda smiled. Mmm. Things had been so pleasant then - so simple... Back when her parents were careful to shelter her to the evils of the world. She sighed. Why couldn't things be so simple again?

A little voice somewhere sneakily repeated back to her, like an echo: _Why _can't_ things be so simple again? Make them that way, Koda._

Koda blinked, then smiled. Yes... Gingerbread.

A woman on a mission, she stormed out of the guest rooms, occasionally shoving students out of her way. She paused to roughly ask one where the kitchens were, he told her, she marched on. Finally she reached them, and there she paused, running over the ingredients in her head. The house elves, while they were mildly terrified of her, were infinitely helpful, allowing her free reign of the minute kitchen.

She sighed, letting her hands fall into the easy rythm of cooking... mixing... baking. It was times like this she understood why her father was addicted to potions making - it was theraputic, almost natural. She sighed again, breaking an egg into the bowl. Father... She sniffled. Why was she crying? Goodness, Koda, she chided mentally, you're losing it, you really are. But it didn't matter.

There and then, she cried - with the house elves staring in amazement at her - she cried for herself, for Father, for Cei, for everyone. Her heart ached - plain, simple and true. A few tears ran down her cheeks and splashed into the batter. Terrified, she immediately qualmed her sobs...

Gingerly, she poked the batter after stirring it once or twice, bringing some of the dark goop up on a fingertip to her lips. She blinked - and blinked again - and gave a happy, hysterical sort of laugh. It was perfect! It was perfect, after she had thought that the salt from her tears would ruin in. She grinned, rummaging around for some sort of glass dish to bake it in. Hadn't Mother always reminded her that a little salt makes everything sweeter...

It seemed like no time at all before the gingerbread was done. Now anxious, she gently took the tray of sweetbread out of the oven, carefully levitating it in front of her. She trailed through the halls of Hogwarts, exactly like her father, as she managed to make her footsteps nearly silent. She came to a door in the dungeons and carefully, very carefully, set it down...

Inside the office, Severus Snape jerked himself awake. After the fight, he had tried to distract himself with grading the various essays he had assigned in his absence, but the end result was that the fourth-year Hufflepuffs merely bored him to sleep. But... what was that smell? Gingerbread? Could it be? And it wasn't _Hogwarts_ gingerbread, either, no, it was too familiar... He sniffled sleepily, reaching up to wipe his eyes. He must still be dreaming... that smelled like Claudia's...

Limping and leaning on the wall, he shoved open his door to the sounds of Koda's retreating footsteps, and... and... _Gingerbread!_

He gaped. And then he yelled. Actually, it was more of a defeated bleat, but for it to carry in the hallways, he had to yell.

"Ko-daaaaa! Come _back_ here!"

She slinked back, not wishing to look at him. Immediately, however, he began to admonish her.

"Koda, you silly girl. How do you expect me to eat all this gingerbread alone?"

He affectionately pulled her into a hug, reaching up to tousle Koda's hair as she grinned. "Come on," he said, voice softening as he held the door open for her. Calmly, as if she had ment to do it all along, she scooped up the tray of gingerbread and walked in...

It was, at least, one step closer to being back to the way things were.

----

_A/N: Coo-eeee! Two chapters...!!_

_Anyhoo, enjoy an' please review, thankee. For clarification, Cei _is_ still alive, he just doesn't get talked about much this chapter..._

_Next chapter gets back to Cei and Koda, I promise._

_{insert witty and legal disclaimer here}_


	7. Sunlight

**R_ain_**

**_C_**hapter Seven

**S_unlight_**

--

They talked that night.

It was probably the longest stretch of time Koda and her father had not gotten into a fight, yet were in the same room. The gingerbread, Koda thought smugly, helped. In a few hours of talking they managed to make up all of the years they had missed of each other. Koda laughed at her father telling her how awful and rowdy his students were; he shook his head at all of her mishaps on tour with the little glorified garage band. The closer the events creeped to the present day, the quieter they got.

Severus didn't bother asking her why she took Cei in - he knew the answer - in fact, he was a little proud that she did. He could laugh in the face of all those who thought that he had been a terrible father now, for he had proof that his daughter _did_ have some morals. Instead of just turning away or giving Cei a pittance for alms, she actually did something, which was more than he or anyone else he knew could say.

The one regret that night is that they had neglected presents for one another. Koda was the most embarrassed, and after a good blush, she threatened to go and buy him a (very Muggle) necktie once this was all over. He countered that the gingerbread and being alive was quite good enough, thank _you._ Yet, somehow, that excuse - that just seeing her was enough - didn't settle quite so nicely for him.

As the pallid glow of predawn light muffled by clouds began to be barely visible, they finally decided that it was finally time for bed, the last crumbs of gingerbread having been scraped from the glass pan. But as she was halfway out the door, he stopped her.

"Wait, Koda."

A moment of rummaging around in a forgotten, dusty box, and he found what he was looking for. Gingerly, he limped over and pressed something into her hands. She took a moment to look, smiled bordering on tears, and hugged him before finally going.

--

It was midmorning by the time Koda dragged herself out of sleep, tiredness wieghing her down like water the first few steps out of a pool. The one thing that spurred her to get up was the hard knot of worry in her chest. Her father had told her one thing - that by mid-morning today Cei would either be dead, or he would be cured. The poison would either have him, or it would finally be broken.

She stood up and fingered Mother's golden locket - no, _her_ golden locket, now, Father had given it to her - around her neck. The chain was long and graceful, as fine as a strand of hair but infinitely strong, and the metal cool to the touch. She opened it to stare at the worn picture of two young and vaugely familiar faces, smiling, happy, before she closed it again, feeling sick. She didn't have time to think about love; she didn't have time to worry. She had to find Cei. _Now_.

The hallways were eerily empty and silent, Koda realized that most of the students were not yet back from Christmas holidays... and those that stayed were in their commonrooms, enjoying their presents. She felt oddly giddy. Yes - it was Christmas day, wasn't it? Christmas...

A painting pointed out the way to the Hospital Wing. For some reason, Koda took her time. She wanted to find him so badly - to see his clear blue eyes open and laughing again, to see him up and alert, to feel his arms about her. But the chance - there was always the chance - that left her chest tight also made her go slow. What if she would never see his eyes again, what if she would only see him stiff and dead, and what if she would never feel his touch again...? The fear was unbearable.

She stopped a few feet from the door to the infirmary. It was open, diffused sunlight spilling into the hall. She could hear a nurse humming and the flapping noise of sheets. After popping her head in, she determined that Cei wasn't there. For a moment her heart sank, until she realised that the nurse was unusually cheerful, and if Cei was - well - dead, logically, the panic and grief would still not have subsided quite that easily. Koda crept away, the knot slowly untying itself in her chest. He was alive. He had to be. Now, if she only could find him...

The students began to trickle down from their dorms. It was lunchtime, but nobody seemed to be in much of a hurry. She saw Harry and gave him a pallid smile, wandered a bit, found herself in the dungeons and talked to her father who verified that Cei was indeed alive, and probably with his father - why didn't she try looking in Dumbledore's office? Of course, it was three moving staircases, fourteen halls, and five interrogated paintings before she finally reached the right corridor.

It was a long hall, rather cool and dark. Very faintly, she could hear voices... one old, one young, both familiar. She knew one was Cei's, the other it took her a moment to place... Albus Dumbledore? Yes, it had to be Cei's father, in a moment she saw them - shaking hands and then finally embracing. She smiled faintly before calling out his name. "Cei?"

He turned, looking startled, then thrilled. His father smiled knowingly as he ran forward, smiling, rushing up to her. For a moment they simply clung to one another, Cei burying his face in her shoulder, Koda pressing against his chest and breathing deeply of the herbs of the bandages he still wore. Time stopped for awhile, at least for them, the superb relief that each felt upon seeing the other safe and sound stretching out the moments. They cooed each others' names for awhile, Koda's voice high and sweet, Cei's still a rough and hoarse purr from unuse. They kissed. And although the few professors and students that did see them laughed and shook their heads, they didn't seem to mind nor care, because everything was suddenly right in their world.

After a moment, she laid her head on his chest and relaxed, listening to the small sounds of his breathing and heartbeat. He kissed her one more time on the cheek before whispering softly: "Look."

"Uhmm?" She lifted her head.

"The window." His voice was very quiet, but she followed his gaze. At the very end of the hall was a window, arching up from the floor to cieling. Someone had drawn back the heavy velvet curtains to show the forest and the dim, cloudy horison. Enchanted, she moved forward with him, still snuggled up against his chest.

As they watched, the last of the cold rain died. For a few moments, the air was still, and then the clouds began to slowly part. A small sunbeam sliced through as the tips of clouds began to be tipped with golden honey tones, and then the slice grew larger and larger until finally the sun in its brilliance showed its face. The lake glimmered, the trees shone, the light hit their faces. And they kissed. Because it was over, and somehow they knew that now everything was going to be fine.

---

_Author's Notes: It's fiiiinished, it's fiiiinished! I actually finished a fic! I know this is a super-short chapter, but really, nothing much happens... A sequel may pop up later, but for now, _Rain _is finished. Teehee. Hooray._

_Now you have to write that sequel to _Happy in the Meantime_, Hayley. _XD


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